Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/10/2025

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am writing to formally file a complaint against Berkshire Mountain Springs due to ongoing billing issues, lack of transparency, and unprofessional customer service. We originally signed up for a monthly water delivery plan, which included five bottles per month for approximately $45, with automatic payments. However, deliveries were inconsistent some months, we did not receive an order, other times, we received too many (e.g., one delivery of 13 bottles). Despite these irregularities, our account was charged arbitrary amounts, without explanation or proper invoicing. Also, without our consent or any communication, Berkshire Mountain Springs placed us on a plan for six bottles per month and included a water cooler rental. We have never rented a water cooler from them, nor did we request six bottles. When we attempted to resolve the issue, we found the responses were vague and unhelpful. Upon closing our account, we were informed that we owe over $400. The company refuses to provide a detailed statement outlining these charges. We are not disputing that we owe a balance, but without a clear and accurate breakdown, we have no confidence in the legitimacy of the amount due especially given their history of erroneous billing and unexpected charges. They are refusing to pick up the empty bottles until the balance is paid in full, claiming that they will return our deposit afterward. Given their lack of transparency and previous billing discrepancies, we are concerned that we will not receive our deposit refund. We are seeking the following resolution: 1.A complete and itemized statement of our account, including all charges, payments, and any rental fees they claim we owe. 2. A correction of any improper charges, including the alleged water cooler rental. 3. A clear process for returning the empty bottles and receiving our deposit refund. If the company is unable or unwilling to provide proper accounting, we request that the BBB facilitate a fair outcome.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/05/2025

  Mr. ***************

  We have spent considerable time discussing your payment arrangement and past-due balance. Rather than reviewing past deliveries and recalculating each charge for the last year, I am electing to simplify the billing as you asked in attached email.

  You originally signed up for the six-bottle water plan at $49.35 every four weeks for a total of 13 deliveries/plans charged a year. The plan got you a discounted rate on water because regardless of whether you took a delivery or not you would be charged the $49.35 a month to get you the discounted rate. Your open invoices date from April 2024 through December 2024, during which you received multiple deliveries exceeding the six-bottle package. While additional bottles would typically be charged at $9.35 per bottle, I will not be adding those charges.

  Instead, I am charging nine months of the package plan at $49.35 per month, totaling $444.15. Additionally, a fuel surcharge of $3 per month for nine months totals $27. This brings the total balance to $471.15.After deducting six bottle deposits ($42 total) from the balance, your final amount due is $429.15. I will not be reassessing finance charges.

  Please mail a final check for $429.15 to settle your account. Let me know if you have any questions.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/05/2025

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because it does not address the fundamental concerns expressed in our complaint. Namely, we have NO faith in their bookkeeping practices and repeat our desire for a full printed history of our account. 

  We can agree that we signed up for a monthly plan, to be deducted from our bank account each month. What you do not address is that you would go months without billing and then put through a huge charge. This is not reflective of best practices. And according to your response we would receive this "discounted rate" even if we didn't take a delivery. How is that fair? 

  As you for waiving the additional jugs, this was your team that delivered them!! I don't consider it a favor that you aren't charging us for something that was delivered in error. No exaggeration, in one week we received 13 jugs of water. Also, you did not address the cooler rental fee. 

  Until you can provide a full accounting from QB or other financial software of our account history from Day 1, we will not accept your offer because we do not trust your financial management and based on your history of complaints we are not alone. 

  Sincerely,
  
  ***** & ****** *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/05/2025

  I want to follow up regarding the billing matter. As stated in my previous communication, I have generously waived charges for additional water, refrained from applying finance charges, and credited your deposits, all before receiving the bottles back.

  Moreover, I did not charge you for the cooler package plan during that time, despite our records indicating that you still have a cooler in your possession. Correspondence and notes regarding the cooler confirm its status.

  If this situation is not resolved, I may need to bill for the cooler that has not been returned, along with the additional charges for water usage beyond the package plan.
  

  I appreciate your understanding and hope we can resolve this matter promptly.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 03/05/2025

  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because we do not have your cooler. We have never had your cooler. The attached picture is of the cooler that we own that is in our kitchen. And yet when my husband brought this to your attention, you called him a liar. 

  Please explain to me why it is generous waiving the charge for the additional water when it was your team that could not adhere to the agreed upon delivery schedule? It is truly shocking to me that you will not take ownership of this mismanagement. 

  I will offer you half of the requested amount to move on from this and will mail a check today. Otherwise I need a full statement as requested many times over in order to review and reconcile with our bank account. 

  Sincerely,
  
  ***** & ****** *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/05/2025

  Attached to my previous response is an email from your husband requesting a cooler. I also have notes from our customer service representative, Ashlee, regarding his request for a free replacement last year. After reviewing this correspondence and our team's notes, it has become evident that he has repeatedly attempted to leverage his place of work, mistakenly believing it to be a customer, to pressure my staff. His behavior has included threats suggesting he could influence the termination of that account, which I find completely inappropriate.

  I plan to reach out to the CEO/Director at the ******** to inform her of this repeated inappropriate behavior towards my staff. Threatening a business based on a mistaken belief about a vendor relationship is unacceptable, and as a small local business, such actions could have significant repercussions.

  It is disappointing to see a customer act in this manner. Moving forward, I will not respond to any further communications from you or him. If the bill is not paid, we will turn the matter over to a collections agency.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/25/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Berkshire Springs representative, Amber, hung up the phone on me a few minutes ago when I was explaining to her that this account has been zeroed out for more than a year and that I have spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to address the continued, repeated, and harassing emails and mailed invoices from Berkshire Springs that do not reflect the current and final status of the account reflecting that no money due. Berkshire claims that we owe more than $450 dating from several years ago. I requested that Amber please pull all communications I have sent by email and regular mail that explain and address this account. The history of this account began shortly after the beginning of the Covid pandemic. In summary, we were billed for water that was not delivered (you lost the delivery person, as I was told); we consequently cancelled the service and requested that the cooling unit be picked up; the unit was not picked up timely; and we continued to be billed incorrectly for both additional water that was not delivered and for the cooling unit that we no longer used. Our account has been paid in full and we do not owe Berkshire anything at this time. I repeatedly requested that the incorrect invoices and continued communications and transmitted of emailed and mailed invoices cease. Berkshire has proven to be an incredibly disorganized company with customer service and billing representatives that fail to maintain accurate records. Rudely hanging up on customers attempting to explain the history of the account and threatening collections if an incorrect invoice is not paid is not how customer service representatives should behave. This is no way to do business and I urge all Berkshire Springs customers to be aware of this behavior.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/12/2024

  We sincerely apologize for the billing issue you experienced and for repeatedly failing to correct your problem.
  
  Although your account had been deactivated in our previous billing software, the cooler had not been correctly removed, and the incorrect balance had not been cleared. When we transferred accounts to new software, the incorrect balance carried over, and the cooler resumed billing. Amber, who works with our collection team, immediately brought this to management's attention after your last conversation with her. After researching what happened, the incorrect balance was cleared, and the account was closed.
  
  We're also implementing a new cancellation process to ensure that this doesn't happen again. We appreciate your patience and thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. Please see attached 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/07/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have been trying to get this company to close my account for 8 months. I have written three letters and called numerous times but no one ever can tell me what total amount I owe to close my account. I pay all of my bills in full and keep getting more with now small amounts that are just tiny finance charges. THESE PEOPLE LITERALLY WON"T CLOSE MY ACCOUNT. I had to threaten them with calling the police just to get them to stop dropping water I didn't want at my house. No messages gets through to any system except the person you talk to. This means I can tell the office people not to deliver water but the guy in the trucks never knows this. Same thing with closing my account. Tonight I wrote a 2.95 check because they say I owe it only I paid in full on Jan 1- I am so afraid they will keep billing me I feel I need to contact a lawyer to get them to stop billing me and to close my account. These people at this company are not honest and are incompetent. DO NOT USE THIS WATER COMPANY! BEWARE! it is the worst company I have ever dealt with in my sixty years of life on earth. Please Berkshire Spring Water LEAVE ME ALONE AND PLEASE CLOSE MY ACCOUNT.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/22/2024

  I apologize for you receiving an additional bill for $2.95. It seems it was a timing issue between statements being issued and a payment being received and posted for the balance forward prior to the finance charge and statement fee. I have removed those charges and will be mailing the check that we received by mail yesterday back to you. I will also issue a check for the amount of $7.90, which I believe should have been the cost of the certified letter you sent. See the attached file reflecting a zero balance on your closed account.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/22/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I appreciate this response so much and have kept your zero balance document for my records indicating my account is closed. Please do not contact me further- can you remove me from. your database?
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/19/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Company had billing discrepancies. When asked for statements we were told they didnt have them due to new ownership. We asked how they would know how much they would owe us in bottle returns if they dont have the number of bottles we have correctly. Office was asked to send paper statements to alleviate billing discrepancies prior to payments as company would not bill for months then auto withdraw a large amount. To this date the company has not mailed a proper billing statement. After canceling service through email as when trying to get information and let them know we may contact bbb we were told we were threatening and hung up on. Since then this company has refused to send a final bill until after payment was made. Requested them to pick up bottles stated I needed to pay first then they reimburse if needed. Now the company is trying to state they never picked up the bottles when they did . As well as dropped off and attempted to drop off waters every month since cancellation and then expecting me to pay for them even when we didnt take them. I have asked for a proper bill and asked them to contact a separate person due to my disability. They instead made wrongful accusations about the contact person and continued to harass me in email. I have proof of the bottles being put out witnesses that the truck came and can try to pull footage of camera of truck taking the bottles I have a disability so making this claim is difficult for me I am working on getting an advocate

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/19/2024

  Attaching picture of bottles left out for pick up. They picked them up a few days after we emailed they were outside. We communicated with driver when he arrived . 
  company was taken over by a new company and discontinued deposit fees. When we originally called we were told they had no records from previous owner so they would not be able to refund us the deposits until we returned the bottles. After repeated emails stated I cancelled service in August. In October after requesting statements the company fraudulently made up statements they had previously stated that had no records of. In December of 2023 this company was still trying to drop off bottles . My original ending bill 305$ and this is with me not getting money back for original fees that were somehow deducted even though they dont do that until you discontinued service . In fraudulent statements still hasnt been sent to me. Now they are claiming they never picked up the bottles. I have severe social anxiety and ptsd due to trauma this company has not billed me properly since becoming a customer in 2021. I have been through a horrible time defending myself to multiple people in the company . Please help me stop them from harassing me. I even offered to pay them money I dont even feel I owe but I will not pay double that. I was supposed to be on an automated payment plan and they would not charge me for 3 months then charge me for it all at once with no statement . Im not sure what else Im supposed to do. Or what evidence you want to see I can start compiling the emails I have someone that can better explain what happened if someone wanted to contact them. I am in the process of being tested as I may be autistic me trying to deal with this company has been very upsetting and frustrating. Thank you for your help in this manner I apologize if I come off just whining 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/06/2024

  Hello, after I received this Berkshire springs sent me another bill with the wrong amount . We returned the bottles and they refuse to take them off and are denying picking them up. I am disabled and everytime I get another email I have a panic attack they have put me through so much stress with their inconsistency. Please help me get the proper final bill so I can not have to be contacted by this company again as well as make others aware of their fraudulent activity. They over bill as well as lack communication between truckers and billing and the customer pays. Thank you . 

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/22/2024

  I apologize for the delay in responding to your complaint; given the seriousness of the accusations, I took the time to go through all phone calls, emails, and records of delivery and pick-up. I have found no record of 21 empties being picked up on any driver's paperwork in November or December, and no truck inventory was off by that many bottles. I looked at all the deliveries and pick-ups made on this account for 2023 and found no record of that many empties being picked up at one time. I also didn't find any evidence of our employees acting in a discriminatory fashion by phone or email. It was noted on the account that a person named ****** was the person you designated to take care of your account, but he was no longer allowed to call about the account because of threatening behavior towards one of our employees. Any further contact was asked to be by email because of this incident. We still continued to accommodate the request that ****** be able to handle your account while making sure our employees were not dealing with abusive behavior. As for accusations of harassing emails, there has been no harassment by our staff. From 2021 to January 2024, you received 30 emails from our staff, most of which were responses to your requests for delivery dates or questions on the account. In 2022, when your payments became inconsistent, there were more emails regarding taking care of your past balance due. There were several chains of emails to which our staff responded once, and you responded an additional number of times to the same email, prompting them to send more emails to answer your inquiries. When you look at your inbox for how many messages you received from us, it is because our CSRs were doing their jobs and replying to a customer or trying to collect the past balance owed to us. It should also be mentioned that one of our staff asked you to cease contact with them, and a member of the Management Team reiterated that you please stop contacting our staff and that you continued to make contact. To prevent this from dragging out any longer, I will credit the account $155.35 if a payment of $300.00 is received by Monday, March 4th, 2024. The payment would bring the account to a zero balance with the credit applied and the account permanently closed. Should you decide to make the payment, you or ******************* call our office and ask to speak to a manager to make a payment. Should this not happen by March 4th,2024, the full balance of $455.35 will be submitted to a debt collection company. 
  
  I apologize for any confusion in the process of our staff trying to collect the past due balance of $455.35, and while I disagree with what you've said, I want you to know that I did take the time to research this situation in great detail. I will be using this situation as a training opportunity to improve communication with customers.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/22/2024

  I have substantial evidence, including timestamped pictures and video footage, confirming that Berkshire East collected the bottles. Despite this, the company has been denying the collection and displaying disrespectful behavior. We are willing to settle the matter by accepting a final bill of $250, which includes a $50 credit for the inconvenience caused. The correct final bill should have been $308 for the 21 bottles returned on November 30th. Alternatively, we are prepared to pursue legal action in small claims court. We expect a fair resolution and acknowledgment of the bottles returned. Failure to do so will result in further action.
  

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/23/2024

  Even if you provide video evidence, our Collection Department spent countless hours before November trying to collect payment and providing credits to reach a final payment arrangement. I have offered you a one-time payment option of $300.00 down from your balance of $455.32, and you have already been given over $120 worth of credit to settle this account by our Collection Department. You had previously said you would provide this video/time-stamped pictures and had yet to. We will terminate that employee if you provide evidence that one of our drivers lied and falsified their inventory records. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/23/2024

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Please send correct final bill.  I owe 308$ for services I received. So when sent a proper bill of 300$ by company , which is also what my email records show all I had asked for from beginning and had to bring this issue to BBB to have it corrected .  I had to wait for charges that were incorrect (over charged fuel charges and finance charges because of incorrected billing) as well as the credit for the bottles we returned was removed. We put them out I emailed the picture when I put them out , the truck came and got them. When I can get myself to find the videos as Im away right now . I will bring them to court as going back and forth here is not enough at this point.  I have no use for these bottles and wouldnt want my bill to be higher. I had cancelled service or attempted to in August and received delivers after that.  The fact that you have multiple complaints about the drivers and their inconsistency in delivery as well as pickup and billing inconsistency I was charged twicne by two different drivers once. You have many of your customers with the same complaint to  still deny customers word and with photo evidence should be enough. This is something really silly to make up. This company was great with customer service they knew the drivers werent always consistent with the billing in fact the drivers complain about the billing while doing deliveries. The new owners have tried taking advantage of longer term customers. That made deposits that they didnt want to have to owe. This company will go under if it keeps up these habits.  Do better customer service accept your company makes mistakes . We will be bringing this to small claims court for the pain and suffering of trying to get a proper bill. You didnt give any credit that werent over charges on your end. In the phone call where you state you were threatened which was just you being told we would go on BBB or to court. Thats a warning not a threat. Which was a response to being told you had no records of the bottles we had. We can bring all this to court as a judge will see this father than BBB we wanted everyone deciding to use your company to see the things you do when you decide to terminate so they didnt feel cornered and alone like I did. Again we returned the bottles all I need is a proper statement that reflects that. I can not access the video until after your deadline so we will bring to court thats no problem. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/12/2023

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I purchased water from a local distributor who sold my business to Berkshire springs. The price rose quickly. At 11 dollars per 5 gallons I decided it would be better to purchase a ******** system and discontinue water delivery. I instructed the Berkshire springs delivery folks to stop delivering water 1/2023 and to notify the office I no longer need delivery. They said they would. Deliveries stopped for a short period of time. But, deliveries started again. Typically two bottles at a time. When I was a customer, they would deliver a quantity of bottles based on the number of empties I had outside. These delivery was proactive- no empties- full water bottles would would be sitting outside. I left a note on a water bottle in a plastic bag to take the water back and to notify the main office I no longer needed delivery of water. They took the water back. A couple of weeks later water showed up again. 2 bottles. I left them outside and didn't consume them. Next delivery 2 more bottles were left at my front door. I did not take them in and consume them. Next delivery more bottles showed up. Next delivery I waited at my house for the delivery I literally had 7ish full bottles of water- when the delivery person arrived I told them to take the water back and tell the main office to discontinue my service. This I believe was in the March April time frame. He apologized and took the water back. Meanwhile any Berkshire Springs Bills I received were paid- I have all the cancelled checks. I received no Bills after this. I assumed all was well. no deliveries. 1 weeks ago, a lone water bottle appeared at my front door. then a bill for ****** showed. I called their office and left a voicemail saying that my account was paid up (based on the Bills I received in Jan/Feb/March) and to have their driver pick up the water bottle outside of my house. 1 week later just received bill for 207.83. I am concerned they will mess with my credit. I am assuming I might not be alone.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/13/2023

  I apologize for any issues the customer experienced with delivery. Water was delivered multiple times after January of 2023. The Route Service Representative noted that the customer requested to skip one delivery on the January 2023 paperwork, not that the customer cancelled. The customer should have contacted the office directly to cancel his account.  However, I am adjusting the account balance to zero, so neither the customer nor our staff have to spend more time on this issue. Please see the attached statement.
  
  As for the customer stating there was dust in our water, without a picture, I can't speak to what he saw or thought he saw. Quality control is something we take very seriously. Our water is tested daily in-house, weekly at an offsite lab, and additionally, another third-party lab does extensive testing annually. We have a bottling line where returned bottles are inspected, sanitized, filled with water, and capped. The window between the bottle being filled with water and capped wouldn't allow for dust to accumulate. It may have been an issue with how the customer was storing the water.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/04/2023

  Type:Order Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have had consistent issues with them billing me for past due amounts that, when I contact customer service, I am told I DO NOT OWE ANY BALANCE. I have tried over and over again to cancel my account but to no avail. They ignore me, hang up on me, and try to send me more bottles and bill me delivery charges. I just received a bill today for some random $95 dollars that makes no sense. Especially since they told me in an email and over the phone my account balance is zero. I will not pay this. These people are a scam now. They used to be great

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/12/2023

   I do not owe them a balance (confirmed by THEM) and I am no longer a customer.  They are still contacting me and I don't want then to either report me for non-payment or deliver more water!

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/13/2023

  
  To be clear, there was no contract issue with this customer. This customer didn't have a contract with Berkshire Springs. We have customers with actual annual contracts; this customer wasn't a contract customer.

  I apologize for any issues she experienced with service or billing. Our staff has been working between two billing software, and although we are optimistic that it will soon stop, it is the reason for the error on her account. A payment made was not correctly entered in both systems. The correct balance would have been $26.90. However, the account has been adjusted to a  zero balance as promised. Please see the attached statement.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/14/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  *******************************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/10/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was getting drinking water delivered by Berkshire Springs. For the time I used their service I suspected they were overcharging me and intentionally making their billing process very confusing. I contacted the company July of this year and requested they tell me my outstanding balance which I would pay that day by credit card and then cancel my account.I paid the amount believing my business with them was over. Oct 6 they sent me a bill "90 days overdue"

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/24/2023

  Dear BBB,

  We have identified the error, reduced her invoice/balance to $0.00, and she has been informed.  As far as we know, this issue is closed.

  Thanks!

   

  Steve

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/26/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Under the original owner/management, Berkshire Mountain Spring Water was an excellent company. Customers were given a printed, bi-weekly schedule, which was followed by clockwork. Under new ownership, Berkshire Spring is a disaster of a company. Under the new management the service grows worse and worse. THEY SIMPLY DO NOT DELIVER WATER! Today is the 15th time in a row that I've been told my water would be delivered and it was not. The FIFTEENTH TIME IN A ROW. I've never before experienced seen such utter and complete incompetence from a business. I have not received water in months. Customer service continues to lie saying, "They'll be there tomorrow." Yet, the delivery truck literally never comes. Last week, I spoke with a customer service representative who agreed to put a few bottles out for me to pick up after work. I drove an hour and twenty minutes to pick up the water. SHE DIDN'T PUT OUT THE WATER! The incompetence and subsequent inconvenience was both shocking maddening. Berkshire Springs company cannot and does not live up to any agreements, ever! I have left countless phone and online portal messages for management. Yet, management has NEVER responded to any of my phone and portal messages. They simply never call back. They don't check or respond to their own message portal. The original owners were organized, prompt, consistent, courteous, and reliable. The current owners and staff possess none of these characteristics. Berkshire Springs is quite simply the worst business in all of Berkshire County.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/26/2023

  The resolution I seek is the following:

   - Deliver my water immediately on a day mutually agreed upon. 

   - Going forward, deliver my water on a bi-weekly basis with clear advance notice of delivery date. 

   - Send a full breakdown to my email on file with all charges and payments from the past 2 years.  (At this time, Berkshire Spring website does not provide any account information whatsoever.  This information is no available to me.  I've learned from reviewing previous BBB complaints that overcharging and failure to reimburse are additional ongoing issues under the company's new management.)

  - Contact me with a apology for the ongoing inconvenience and to discuss compensation.  

   

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/28/2023

  I apologize for any issue you had with deliveries. Looking at the driver's paperwork and audit trail of your account, it has become clear that a number of things were mishandled. The delivery issues started when the account was switched to a different delivery address in ***, **. Our old software was not set up to handle multiple delivery locations on the same account. That address change would have also changed your delivery day on the schedule, which wasn't done. A change was then made to update the delivery address back to **********, but the delivery instructions never changed. It still reflected not to deliver to the registration office and had a secondary note saying not to leave water if no empties were left out. The second note is the note that belonged to the ********** location, as it references the street name in **********. That said, it created a very confusing situation for any driver unfamiliar with your particular stop. According to driver notes, no empties were left out on more than one scheduled stop at the ********** location. The drivers typically reach ********** by 7:00 am, and if the bottles weren't out when they arrived, they would have followed the delivery instructions on the account. Again, we apologize for any delivery issues and will use your particular case to train our newer employees to properly set up secondary accounts, update delivery instructions, and place customers on the correct routes if a change is needed.
  
  We dropped the ball on those issues, but the driver did follow the delivery instructions to the best of his abilities, given the overall mess of instructions he was left with. I cannot reimburse you for your time as that isn't something we would do, and the deliveries were attempted. However, after the balance is paid in full, I will place a note on your account extending you an offer of free setup and one month of free service should you decide to return between now and December 2024. While reviewing your account, I also found that a duplicate payment had been applied, so I removed that payment. The current balance after being credited $60 for deposits is $110.15. I have attached copies of open invoices, a payment history, and a transaction history from March of 2022 through May 2023. We are sorry to see you leave us as a customer, but we appreciate the opportunity for training as we continue to make changes to improve our service. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/18/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We were Berkshire Springs customers for several years. The service was always inconsistent. Specifically, they would not deliver water on the scheduled day, they would come on the wrong day (our empties would not be outside for collection, leaving us with the wrong number of full bottles and many of empties). They ignored repeated pleas to leave full bottles at the end of our driveway and caused damage/divots to our steep, small gravel driveway by driving up, skidding. Once, they called us at 6:30 am saying they were coming and then left a random number of bottles. We never once received an invoice, itemizing what we were charged for. They charged my credit card randomly for bottles not received. In sum, it was such a mess that we cancelled service. Even that was a drawn out headache. It took me three months to get a $35 refund (for our empty bottle deposit). Every time I called the office, they had some excuse as to why they hadn't or couldn't refund me for the bottles I returned (I returned them to their business location; they never came to pick them up.) They repeatedly said they refunded my credit card, but instead charged me for more bottles that were never delivered. At one point they provided a Word document refund invoice and said that the refunded me, but no refund was ever issued to my credit card. After tons of back and forth, I finally got them to mail me a check. But, we still had three remaining bottles to return and for which we were owed a refund of our bottle deposit. **** (customer service), told me to return them to *************************************. I asked her if they would accept them there, since I hadn't purchased them there. She assured me they would and when I tried, they refused to accept them for the very reason I feared. They also expressed exasperation with this company. I will return the bottles to BS this week and want a refund. I emailed BS with no reply. Any help getting a refund for my remaining empties would be appreciated.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/27/2023

  Dear ******* (BBB of Central *********** Inc.)

  I have been in direct contact with *********************** and have sent her refund by mail to a post office box she designated.  She has not yet been able to confirm that it has arrived (she will be checking again soon), but it was made out to her and for the amount she specified, the correct amount.  She told me she would confirm receipt when she gets it (and would come pick it up from me at our office if it doesn't arrive for whatever reason).  I am confident that the situation is resolved and almost closed. 

  *******************

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/29/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me, but this company has major customer service issues that they should focus on before they can expect people in the community to trust and continue to use their service. It is truly sad how downhill this company, which provides a vital service to the community, has gone since it was purchased by outsiders. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/11/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Around March 2021 I was given a notice that my account was past-due. I had not received any prior notice to this, as I usually left cash with the driver for the agreed-upon rate. Come to find out, my rate has been more than doubled without notice. I was obviously bothered by this. The company refused to adjust my balance to reflect the old rate. I called weekly (sometimes multiple times a week) to receive follow-up and BMSW consistently had no updates. The poor customer service representative was clearly bothered by this situation, but was boxed out of taking any action by a manager who refused to take calls, was always "in a meeting," and made SEVERAL promises to call back but NEVER once did. After trying for several months to negotiate a resolution, always prompted on my end, finally the customer service rep adjusted my rate and I happily paid off my account balance. She only did this because she was leaving (don't blame her). Mind you, I worked here up to summer of 2019, and not a single person I knew remains. Still, I had several empty bottles that needed to be picked up to receive my deposit back. Following the same routine, I scheduled at least 6 different attempts to pick the bottles up, even calling day-of to verify that the driver would come by, but they never came. I was sick of this [this is now sometime in Octoberremember, I started this process in March] and drove the bottles back to BMSW myself. I was handed a receipt that shows I am owed $133 in deposit refunds. Months went by and I never received my refund. I tried to call several times, and I was told that they could not find my receipt. I emailed them a copy, and I have yet to hear back. This was the beginning of December. I try to call and nobody answers.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/14/2023

  Attached is a transaction history showing the last time account **** had a zero balance in 12/2020. After that, the account went unpaid until 9/29/22. **************** continued to receive deliveries because he was a former employee of the company. In the Spring of 2021, Berkshire Springs announced a price increase to $8.95 to start in June of 2021. The notification was printed on every statement for the three months prior to June. Attached is a June 2021 invoice for Account **** reflecting the increase. There was no sudden price increase. The account wasn't being paid, and statements were ignored. 
  
  In March 2022, our collection manager,  *******, spoke to **************** repeatedly about the status of his account. **************** last spoke to that representative on 3/26/22 and told her he would not be paying the bill and to send him to collections. Nothing happened with the account until September of  2022, **************** scheduled a pick-up of empties, which was completed. A credit was issued for a return of empties for $109.00, which would be for the return of 16 bottles ($112) minus a $3.00 fuel surcharge. That brought the account balance from $273.45 to $164.45. A payment was then made on 9/29/22 for $145.45, which still left a balance. No credits are due on the account. Initial deposits were never charged on this account for setup because the customer was an employee. In fact, according to records, **************** should still have two empties on hand. Should he like to schedule a pick-up of those, it would generate an additional credit of $14.00 ($7.00 per bottle) minus a fuel surcharge of $3.00, leaving a balance on account of $15.80. Our office is open Monday-Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 and customer service would be happy to assist with scheduling that.
  
  

   

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/17/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  So many things about this response are factually incorrect. I invite BMSW to provide the contact information for their customer service representative that quit around the end of September/early October, as she would provide a far different story. I would also invite BBB to browse BMSW's ****** reviews to see that my incident is far from isolated and many, many customers are having similar issues. To begin, BMSW did not dispute that receipts were never left with the delivery, despite that being company policy. Next, their own document shows I still had a -$1 balance as of 4/21, despite BMSW's sloppy report claiming my last zero-balance was 12/20. They do not dispute that I did in fact bring 19 bottles as reported in my attached document and am owed a refund for those bottles. It is ludicrous to believe that I was keeping water jugs from 2019 (when I left BMSW) and am therefore not owed a refund for those bottles. I asked service to stop in March 2022, yet their document clearly shows significant activity following that. I was unable to get ahold of anyone for months, as their former customer service rep was roadblocked repeatedly on any effort to resolve the account. I have never spoken with *******, not once. She is not who called, as I only EVER spoke to their former rep, whose name I have forgotten. Never once did the collection manager call me. I told them to send my bill to collections over the price dispute (again, almost a 250% increase) which BMSW refused to settle. I offered several times to settle an adjusted bill and they refused. I called repeatedly to have bottles picked up, which never occurred, hence why I had to bring the bottles myself. They have service history under my account showing appointments to pick up bottles which were never fulfilled, unless they've since deleted them. On my phone call on 9/29, I was told the charge was zeroing out my account. I have no reason to believe the service rep was lying to me, as she had already put in her two-weeks because of mismanagement and unfair working conditions (they made her work despite being very ill from home). Any service charge, delivery fee, or otherwise have never occurred after Spring '22 when I begged to cancel service. There is clearly a reason I have gone so far as to reach out to the BBB for this dispute, something I have never had to do before. This is the first time I have received communication from BMSW since September of 2022, aside from the time I brought back 19 bottles myself because they continuously missed pick-up appointments. Please remit the $133 as shown on my attachment. 

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/24/2023

  We are in the middle of a software change and have been since December. We have limited access to canceled accounts as they are being archived. Due to this complaint, I had to pay to have the archive brought up sooner than it was ready. You are one of three agencies I have to respond to. Attached is the deposit history on ****** account. You can see that **************** was never charged the number of deposits over the lifetime of his account that he is claiming. I generously credited $190 for deposits he never paid. He will not get any additional refund for deposits he didnt pay. I will gladly remove the credit of $190 and turn this matter over to a collection agency, as he never paid for the deposits I gave him the $190 credit for. I was cutting him a break because he was a former employee and having difficulty paying his bill. I have all the deposits ever paid or credited on the account. If you look at the date range at the top, 1/1/2000-2/22/2023, those are the deposits he was charged or refunded over the life of his account. The transactions highlighted appear twice and should only be taken into consideration once. The credit I applied for deposits on his account doesn't show because I made a one-time adjustment to his account for the grand total of what would have been the bottles picked up minus a $3.00 fuel surcharge. The adjustment had to be listed under an adjustment as he wasn't actually due those deposits, and I have to track that separately for our records. If **************** doesn't accept this and pay the outstanding balance, I will remove the credit, add it back to the existing balance, and send it with the documentation to a collection agency. Far too much time has been spent on this matter.

   

  My employees have spent countless hours dealing with ****************. I have spent time dealing with his false claims to multiple agencies. Our owners and other managers have had to spend time responding to emails with the same incorrect information. We have had to respond to the misinformation he has posted in reviews to tarnish our image. As a company, we aim to provide good customer service, which we provided ****************. We were very generous with the credit we gave ****************, hoping he could pay off his balance, but he hasn't. We will not be bullied into giving a refund that is not due to him.